Colonizing "Carolana"
Historical highway marker KV-40 · Virginia Beach
Virginia Burgess Francis Yeardley sponsored an expedition to the Albemarle region of present-day North Carolina in 1653. This party returned with several Native Americans including a chief, possibly Kiscutanewh of the Weapemeoc (Yeopim), who lodged for a week at Yeardley’s residence near here. Yeardley agreed to build an English house in the Albemarle for the chief and to foster, educate, and baptize his son. Yeardley also purchased a large tract of land in “Carolana” from the chief and had a house built ca. 1655 near Albemarle Sound for fur trader Nathaniel Batts, North Carolina’s first documented permanent English resident. Other settlers began arriving in the region soon thereafter.
Department of Historic Resources, 2023